Advice On A Hogwarts Rooftop
by MOLLY THE MONSTER
Summary: "Who does he think he is? Kissing my baby sister! He's toast!" "James, I'm not a baby." "Of course you are! How old are you?  Twelve?" "Fifteen, but nice try." James tries to give little sister Lily some advice about life on the roof at Hogwarts. One-shot


Advice On A Hogwarts Rooftop

By Molly The Monster

_Setting: sometime during the school year, 2023_

"How'd I know you'd be out here?" came the voice of James Potter.

Lily looked up to see her older brother. His upper body was hanging out the window and he was grinning at her. Not much earlier before James had arrived, Lily had wandered up to the seventh floor, opened a window in the corridor, and jumped out knowing full well there would be a ledge for her to land on. She scaled the building, taking a few steps before coming across a larger, flat platform that she could sit on, occasionally lay down on and dangle her feet off of. This had become her favorite place to go and think.

It was her secret place, a place no one could bother her. It was the place she could go when she needed to get away. At that moment, Lily felt like an utter and complete mess. She hated fighting with people. Especially people she cared about.

"I don't know, James," said Lily without looking at him. He disappeared back inside and then his legs appeared seconds later. He came out the window, jumping down and scaling the ledge before joining Lily. "How did you know I'd be here? How do you even know about this place?"

James grimaced. "I'm the one who told you about this place!" He exclaimed, grabbing Lily around her neck with his arm. He rubbed the top of her head with his knucks as he said, "In your first year, remember?"

Lily fought to pull herself away from him. She fixed her red hair so that all the strands fell back into place. "I'm getting too old for that, James. I'm practically an adult."

"Ha! Lily, you're still in school. You haven't even taken O.W.L.'s yet! You're not even close to being an adult," James reminded his sister. He pulled her back toward him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders again.

The two sat in silence, looking out at the dark forest in the distance.

"James?" Lily finally asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

"Yes?" he responded.

"Why did you come looking for me?" she asked him, but she already knew the answer to the question.

"I heard you and Rose fighting in the common room," James told his sister. "It–er–it was pretty vicious. And I, uh, I thought you could use a friend."

The reason Lily had come to this place was because of her fight with Rose. She couldn't stand fighting with anyone, least of all Rose. The things Rose said hurt Lily. She needed to be outside in the fresh air and think.

The fight revolved around a boy...of course. A certain tall, good-looking, brown-haired, charming, funny, seventh year Hufflepuff seeker who happened to be named Scott Lipinski. He also happened to be the boy on whom Rose had a crush. A few weeks before, Rose had confided in her cousin that she was crushing on the Head Boy. Lily knew of him, but she hadn't even noticed him before.

But once she noticed him, well, she noticed him. She noticed the way his perfect, light brown hair fell in his eyes. And she noticed how funny he was and how kind and charming he was...it was hard not to notice.

For some reason, after Rose told Lily about her crush, Lily seemed to run into him everywhere. It was like fate was playing some kind of cruel joke on her.

How could Rose blame Lily for developing a liking to Scott? He was just so completely perfect. Lily tried to convince herself he wasn't perfect and she tried to think of something that was wrong with him, but there wasn't. There just wasn't. And when Rose found that not only did Lily have a crush, but Scott asked Lily out and then some, well, Rose wasn't entirely too happy about it.

"What were you guys fighting about anyway?" asked James, finally breaking the silence.

Lily blushed, looking down at her lap. Telling her big brother they were fighting over a guy would be way too embarrassing. "I thought you said you heard us fighting."

"I did. It's just that nothing made much sense," he informed her. "Something about you always being jealous of Rose and you always trying to steal everything from her..."

"I am not jealous of her!" Lily exclaimed. She turned her body so she was facing James and his arm dropped from her shoulders. "She thinks that she's so much older and more mature than me, but she's only a year older. Seventh months actually! I'm just as good as she is! Ever since she became a prefect she thinks she's so great and mature and responsible. I would have been a prefect if it wasn't for stupid Marni Keller!"

James laughed and Lily scowled. "You know, sis, that doesn't explain what you were fighting about."

"What does it matter?"

"I don't know, but I suppose it might help me understand the situation better."

Lily looked away from James and at her lap again. Telling her older brother they were fighting over a boy? She'd rather die. But then again, James was only trying to help. "Well, you know Scott Lipinski..." Lily began sheepishly. She could feel her cheeks warming.

"Perfect Scott Lipinski? Head Boy? Hufflepuff seeker? Does anyone not know him?" James laughed. Clearly he didn't know where Lily was going with this. If he had, he probably wouldn't have been laughing.

"Well, Rose sort of has a crush on him," Lily said. She swore she wouldn't tell anyone, but James didn't really count as anyone? He was James, after all...

"Aww, that's sweet," said James with a smile. Lily was confused. Her brother, James Sirius Potter, just said that something was sweet? Lily almost told him that she would talk to him later when her real brother was ready to talk to her. James must have been able to read the expression on Lily's face. "Well, you know, Scott's a cool guy. He's a great seeker, bastard, but he's bloody brilliant. I wouldn't mind having him in the family."

"Yeah..." Lily replied, she had no idea what to say.

"So what, you were fighting because Rose likes some guy?" James asked. "Just because she has a boyfriend doesn't mean she's going to forget you. You know–"

"No, it's not like that," Lily interrupted her brother. "It's, er, well," Lily looked down at her lap again. "He likes someone else."

James stared at her blankly. "I don't understand."

"Er, well, how do I put this...?" Lily began. She pushed her hair over her shoulder. "He–er–he likes me..."

Lily sneaked a peak at her brother. He was staring at her. "Excuse me?" James asked. His face was a mix between horror and confusion.

"Well, to make matters worse, Rose, er, she sort of–er–she saw us snogging in–"

"What?" James screamed. "That bloody swine! I'll kill him for laying a hand on you!" James tried to scramble to his feet and he almost slipped. If he had, he might have fallen off the roof, and killed himself. Lily grabbed hold of him, pulling him back down onto the platform.

"Relax!" she told him. He calmed a little, settling down next to her. "Please, don't make anything of this."

"Make anything of this? He better sleep with one eye open! He's dead meat! Who does he think he is? Kissing my baby sister! He's toast!"

"James, I'm not a baby," Lily said calmly.

"Of course you are! How old are you? Twelve?"

"Fifteen, but nice try."

"Merlin, are you fifteen already? Oh, that makes me seventeen. Wow! Where does–"

"James, I'm having a crisis here," Lily reminded her brother gently. He was getting a little hysterical.

"Oh, right, right," said James as soon as he realized he was going off on a tangent. "What were you saying again?"

Lily sighed in exasperation. "It's Rose!"

"Oh, of course," James said when he remembered. "She saw that dirty, filthy bastard running his hands all over you. I'm going to–"

"James!"

"Oh, right. And what's the matter with Rose?" James asked, shaking his head so that his messy black hair was out of his eyes. James looked so much like their father.

"You are. The worst. Listener. Ever," Lily concluded. She slid away from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry," James said, sliding over to be next to his sister again. He threw an arm around her shoulders again. "Rose told you she liked a boy, you go off and snog him–"

"It wasn't like that!" interjected Lily defensively.

James smiled. "Trust me, no matter what it was really like, that's how Rose is going to see it. And that's how she's going to explain it to Hugo and Albus and Louis and Fred and Roxanne and Molly and Lucy and–"

Lily had been staring off in the distance when she interrupted. "Well James, you certainly know how to make a girl feel better," said Lily, feeling even more badly that she had before. She didn't even think it was possible.

"None of that matters though," said James, and Lily could tell he was trying to be comforting. "Let's just figure out how you're going to fix this."

"How I'm going to fix this," Lily repeated.

"Well, sure," said James, like it was obvious. "It certainly isn't going to fix itself. Are you really going to let a boy come between you two?"

Lily thought about it. And although she hated the idea of it, she knew James was right. Rose was her cousin and more than that, Rose was her friend. She couldn't lose her over a boy. A very handsome, smart, talented boy, sure, but just a stupid boy nonetheless. But Lily also couldn't forget the things Rose had said to her.

"I wish it was that simple James," Lily said sadly.

"I'm your older brother," said James. Lily was going to respond sarcastically, but James didn't give her a chance. "I'm vastly more mature emotionally and physically. I'm wiser, you know, with all my years of experience. I've been through all of this kind of stuff. Sometimes you get into fights with people, but you have to know that your friendship is more important than anything. You can't let something as simple as one fight get in your way. Your relationship with Rose is stronger than that."

Lily could do nothing but stare at James. Did he really just say that? "Wow James," Lily finally managed to say. She looked up at her brother. "That was...deep. It was insightful. It was actually helpful."

"I know," James said with a smug smile. "Aunt Hermione gives the best advice."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I should have known," she mumbled, more to herself than James.

"It doesn't matter where the advice is coming from," said James seriously. "The point is, are you going to let a guy come between you two?"

"No," said Lily, her voice quiet. "No!" she repeated with a little more confidence. "I'm going to go talk to her right now!" Lily stood up on the platform. James was in her way, so he'd have to go first.

"Good! That's what I want to hear," said James, standing up too. "So what are you going to say to her?"

Lily's confidence deflated a little. "No idea," she said with a shrug. "I'll figure it out when I get there."

James raised his eyebrows at his younger sister. "If you say so." He turned around to scale the ledge and climb back through the window, but Lily stopped him.

"James," she said. Her brother turned around yet again to face her. "Um, thanks," she said quietly, shifting her gaze to her black shoes. She'd never had a heart to heart like this with him before. She had to admit, the idea of her brother being an actual human being with actual emotions was rather strange. She'd never imagine that he'd be the one to help her in this way.

"Anything for my little sister," said James. He took a step forward and engulfed her in a hug. "You see this Lily?"

"See what?" Lily asked, her arms still around her older brother.

"Me and Al are the only boys allowed to be this close to you," James said. Lily laughed, even though she was almost positive he was serious. "You think I'm joking," James mumbled and Lily stifled another laugh.

Lily hugged her brother a little more tightly and then he pulled away. "You'll be able to work things out with Rose, trust me. Anyway, I gotta go," he said and before she knew it, he was already back at the window.

"Wait, where are you going?" she asked, following him. She was a lot more careful than he was. Maybe he didn't care about plunging to his death, but she did.

She watched him jump and pull himself up through the window with ease. He climbed through and then stuck his upper body back out. Lily was under the window and James was above her. "I'm going to go kill Scott Lipinski," James said as casually as he would say, "I'm going to go eat a slice of pumpkin pie."

"What?" Lily screamed, looking up at her brother. "No, don't do that! Don't you go near him!"

James seemed to consider it for a moment. "Nope, I'm gonna go kill Scott Lipinski."

"Wait! Don't do anything rash!" Lily said frantically. "Quick, pull me up!"

"You've been out here plenty of times," James said nonchalantly. "You can get back up." And then he disappeared inside the castle.

"James Sirius Potter! Come back here!" yelled Lily. She could get back in, but not quite as easily as her older brother.

James stuck his head back out the window once again. "Good luck with Rose!" he said and then he was gone.

"JAMES!"

* * *

I'm not really sure how this idea came to me, but it did. I wrote most of it yesterday. This is the fastest I've ever written anything I think. I like the way it turned out too. It was partly inspired by a bit in Whisperwings's story Spirals of Affection. It's the first non-Marauders thing I've ever written, so it was really weird for me to write a story about characters named Lily and James without Lily and James being a couple. Haha. But I enjoyed writing this. Like I said, it was my first non-Marauders Era piece. I actually think I'm going to like writing about Next Generation characters. Expect more of this from me!

This story is dedicated to Anana553, AngelinaWeasley1 , Anonymous Santa , AshMoon, BeautifulMidnighter, Cabin3Demigod, Coffee Boy Jones, DangerouslyAvril, Digi-Zoo, emmy, HB17RJO, I promise you that, Icylone, Ikrona, incandescent dreams, ItsAnneChickenNugget, Lifesjustducky, Macceh, MadameCissy, Musafreen, opaque-girl, Our Eleventh Hour, princess7padfoot, Rani Jashalithie, slytherinprincess02 StarKid McFly, SpiritxXxWildfire, Supernova Jes, The Terrible Jester for reviewing my last story, _Siriusly Troubled_.


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